Ransomware Attack at Bakker Logistiek Caused Cheese Shortage in Dutch Supermarkets
Bakker Logistics was hacked over the 2021 Easter weekend, bringing deliveries from its distribution centres to a standstill. The company was no longer able to receive orders from customers, and it also had no visibility into which products were where in the warehouses. Moreover, the hack disrupted the transport planning, according to Director Toon Verhoeven in an interview with the Dutch news broadcaster NOS. This resulted in empty shelves in some stores.
Verhoeven confirmed that it was a ransomware attack and was not willing to comment on whether Bakker actually paid a ransom, but did confirm that the company had reported the incident to the police. It took a specialized security company several days to get the computer systems up and running again. According to Verhoeven, the backlog was expected to be cleared within a week, so the hack was unlikely to lead to a major shortage of cheese products or other groceries.
In a local media report spotted by Bitdefender, Verhoeven said he suspected the attackers gained a foothold through a Microsoft Exchange server vulnerability